Tactile
by 3from2k
Summary: When one of Lisa's experiments accidentally leaves Lincoln temporarily blind, deaf, and effectively mute, the rest of the family bands together to make sure that they can get Lincoln through it all with his sanity still intact. After all, who knows what such sensory deprivation could result in? Reviews, Critiques, and Comments are greatly appreciated.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I Own Nothing. The Loud House in its entirety belongs to Nickelodeon.**

* * *

It was just an average Saturday morning in the neighborhood of Royal Woods, Michigan. Most of the houses were quiet, the occupants having slept in to get the most from their weekend after such a long and grueling week, and the majority of the residents were still in the process of waking up. Most the houses, except for one, that is. A single two story house with a yard littered with toys was host to the two parents, ten daughters, only son, and multiple pets that comprised the Loud family. Despite the early hours, and much to the consternation of their neighbor Mr. Grouse, they were currently doing an outstanding job of living up to the name.

Within the house chaos was running rampant, with the young twins arguing in the living room over what to watch on the television, the ever energetic Lynn rollerskating around the bottom floor wearing a helmet and wielding a hockey stick, constant vibrations rumbling down from the room of Luna as she jammed away on her guitar, and the occasional explosion from child prodigy Lisa's room shaking the house foundations. Amidst all this sat Lincoln, tired bags under his eyes, munching away on a bowl of cereal and casually observing the turmoil around him from the dining room table. Next to him was his sister Lucy, wearing a larger purple turban and rubbing a crystal ball on the table, while Lori sat to his other side, texting away with her Bobby Boo-Boo Bear as always.

"Are you sure you don't want to hear your fortune? It could warn you of the danger yet to come," the gothic sister spoke to her brother in her usual monotone.

Without even looking up from where the twins had formed a dust cloud in front of the couch for the remote, Lincoln merely gave a dry response back.

"Only if the future can warn me when to look out for Luan's next pie in the face routine."

"Hmm," Lucy responded, waving her hands over the crystal ball in a mystic fashion. "I would say in about... five seconds."

Sure enough, the comedian of the family vaulted into the room from the kitchen, freshly baked pies in either hand and an only slightly deranged smile on her face.

"Did someone say PIE!"

The next moment, two cream pies were sent soaring through the air towards the three siblings. Without missing a beat, Lucy leaned to her right, and Lincoln to his left, both clearly used to this occurrence, and one pie flew through the open space where it could have hit either Loud. It landed with a very large splat on the wall behind them, slowly sliding down to the floor and leaving a trail of cream on its way down. The other pie, however, seemed to have found its mark, as Lola and Lana's fighting and Lynn's rollerskating came to a screeching halt when a shrill scream rang out from Lincoln's left.

"LUAN!"

Lori, dripping with freshly made dessert and a pie tin resting on her head like a hat, rose from her chair with enough for to knock it backwards into the wall behind her, and charged after her younger sister. Luan merely ran off while giggling like a madman as she was chased though the house and out of sight by a highly peeved off Lori. After a few moments of rubbing his ear to remove the faint ringing courtesy of his eldest sibling, Lincoln turned towards Lucy.

"Nice call."

"Thanks. So, about your future.."

Just like that, the bottom floor returned to normal, the sounds of fights and skating and ominous future predictions filing the air once more. The family dog Charles ran in from the backyard and made quick work at licking the pie off the wall. Lincoln merely gave a sigh at the sight, faintly wondering if he was going to be made to clean up the mess later.

"Lincoln, honey, could you come here please?"

Hearing his mother calling from the kitchen, Lincoln hopped off the chair and grabbed his now empty bowl before heeding the summons of his mother.

"Sorry Lucy, but my future's gonna have to wait."

"Sigh."

Heading into the kitchen, the first thing to catch Lincoln's eye was the absolute mess left on the counter from Luan's baking spree. The second was over on the larger of the two tables used by the older members of the family, which was the remains of her baking, mainly in the form of three large stacks of cream pies sitting before Leni, who looked even more confused than normal.

"Why are there, like, so many pies on the table? Oh, do we each get our own pie for dessert tonight?!"

"No sweetie, those are just extras that your sister made," Rita replied from her place by the sink, cleaning the dishes from last night.

"Oh, that makes sense. But wait, which one..."

Lincoln shook his head with an amused smile on his face as Leni proceeded to narrow her eyes in concentration at solving what seemed to be a real head scratcher, for her at least.

' _Oh Leni, sweet to a fault, but about as bright as Lucy's nail polish_ ,' Lincoln thought.

Moving towards his mother, the matriarch of the family turned to her son and put his bowl and spoon into the sink.

"Good morning sweetie, did you sleep well? You look like you just went ten rounds of wrestling with Lynn."

Before he could even get one word out, the tomboy in question shot into the room with little warning and made a circle around the two.

"Not yet he hasn't!"

Without even slowing down she shot out the back door before her mother could chastise her. It all happened so fast one could have missed it with a mere blink of the eyes. For her part Rita was simply happy she remembered to go outside before she had to remind the thirteen year old.

"I'm fine mom, just a little tired is all," Lincoln said, only slightly perturbed at the idea of wrestling with Lynn later. He'd rather deal with her mixed martial arts training compared to wrestling. At least with that he knew how to block or deflect a few of her moves.

"Well that good to hear. Oh, the reason I called you in here was to do a favor for me."

Lincoln tensed up, eyeballing the large mound of dirty dishes from last night's dinner.

"And no, it's not help with the dishes. You know the rules, when your dad or myself is off, we do the dishes," Rita continued, watching her son visibly loosen up at the words.

"Thank goodness. What is it then?"

"Here," she said, gesturing to a plate holding a sandwich on the counter. "Lisa skipped breakfast today, so could you take her something to eat?"

"Sure thing."

It was no secret that Lisa would sometimes skip lunch or breakfast for her research, and she had just gotten some sort of experimental scanner, so Lincoln wasn't too surprised by this. So the boy grabbed the plate off the counter, a plain peanut butter and jelly sandwich, just the way Lisa liked it, and headed out of the kitchen, and past Leni who seemed no closer to figuring out who made all the pies.

"Thanks Lincoln," her heard his mom call out as he left the room.

Rita watched him leave before turning to her second eldest daughter.

"Leni, give it a rest on the pies sweetie."

The teenager in question just slumped back in her chair, exhausted with a little pout on her face, giving the stack of desserts the stink eye.

Lincoln made is way upstairs, and had to stop midway up as Luan and Lori, still hot on the comedian's heels, race up the stair and around the corner. Little bits of pie were flying off Lori, and the family's bird Walt was not to far behind, landing by a crumb, scarfing it down and moving on to the next with a single flap of his wings, slowly hopping up the stairs on crumb at a time. Lincoln took care not to step on the little yellow bird as he moved forward.

Right as Lincoln reached the top of the stairs, he was startled by the brief yet powerful and amplified guitar shredding coming from Luna and Luan's room as his fourth oldest sibling reached her sanctuary from the irate teen behind her.

"Luan! You have to come out sometime, and I'll be waiting when you do!" Lori yelled at the closed door, though whether or not she was heard over Luna's guitar solo was another matter entirely.

"Great, now I need another shower."

Lincoln watched as Lori stalked sullenly into her room while trying to stifle a laugh, not wanting to attract her ire. Everyone gets it good from Luan every once in a while, and today just happened to be Lori's not-so-lucky day. So the boy turned around and headed for the room of the two youngest Louds, wondering idlely what experiments his sister was up to today. Nothing dangerous hopefully.

Inside the young genius's room, however, the truth was the complete opposite.

* * *

"Now preparing for initial test of new subsurface anomaly sensor utilizing experimental optical and acoustic detection methods. Due to the extremely hazardous nature of these prototype stage devices, complete lock down must be preformed in order to ensure no bodily harm befalls any of my genetic sharing family members or the various fauna that reside on the premises. Initiating scans for any potential nearby life signs."

Lisa switched over to a separate screen on her computer that wasn't covered in various types of technological terms and symbols. The screen that popped up showed a camera feed of her entire room from a camera hidden in the corner. She could even see herself at her computer in what looked to be a cross between a hazmat suit and a space suit.

"Scanning. Scans show no organisms on the premises other than myself, securely encased within proper attire as per safety requirements. Area secured, moving on to next zone."

The four year old switched over to a view of the hallway a second later after inputting the note manually into her logs as well as the microphone in her suit. The view from a camera mounted above her brother's door faced the hall, showing nothing in particular aside from Walt pecking at something on the ground by Lori and Leni's room.

"Avian fauna Walt detected near eldest siblings' place of residence. Subject well outside of danger zone. Area deemed secure, moving to final zone."

One last screen came up, showing the inside of the air vents connecting Lisa and Lily's room to the rest of the house.

"Ventilation system is clear of any inhabitants, elder sibling inclined towards all things macabre or otherwise. All areas deemed secure, proceeding to lock down portion of pre-test procedures."

With a few more clicks on her keyboard, metal shutters covered the window, barricades erected within the air vents as all air ducts sealed shut, and the main door swung shut, locked, an airtight seal forming around the main entryway to the room.

"Lock down complete, now proceeding to testing stage. According to reports, the device will release a powerful optical and auditory blast into the sample material of high-density iridium, detect the visual variations from sudden exposure to extreme brightness and the various changes in vibration frequency from concussive sonic blasts to give an in-detail analysis of the interior of the iridium. A single blast will begin the start of the initial tests. Beginning tests in eleven, ten..."

With a click of the button, the countdown began, and Lisa sat back and watched the device next to her. What looked like a large chunk of rock sat on what appeared to be an advanced microscope, only instead of three separate lenses, there was what appeared to be a small light similar to old flash-bulbs, and what looked like a miniature speaker of some sort, both alongside a compact bundle of sensors far to advanced to make sense of.

Slowly a glow began to emit from the device and the speaker began to reverberate. The visor of Lisa's suit gradually started to become more opaque as the glowing grew to increased levels, the growing sounds from the compacted speaker non-existent through the use of the suit material's noise cancellation capabilities.

Then, the lights turned off, then right back on.

 _'What the?'_ Lisa thought before turning around.

Now, it bares mentioning that Lisa was a woman of science, and if one were to ask her if she believed in luck, she would go on a lengthy rant filled with over complicated terms that could easily be shortened to a simple no. However, she did believe in chance, as chance can be measured due to the outside factors and variables at play whenever chance is involved. For example, the more siblings that are home, the greater the chances that an argument will break out. Lisa knew there was a chance that someone could bypass her security measures, but the odds of that happening were so abysmally small that she wouldn't bother concerning herself with it.

 _'No. This can't be.'_

However, today those near impossible odds came true and she found herself staring dumbfounded at none other than Lincoln, on the wrong side of a locked door, holding a plate and saying words she could not hear. A despicable mixture of dread and terror struck the scientist to her core as she looked at the countdown on her computer, the increasing power of the device on her table, and back to Lincoln. Rational mind gone, Lisa, in a rare instance of nothing but raw human emotion, lept and reached for her brother in a futile attempt to save him as the visor of her suit became pitch black.

"LINCOLN!"

The words were muted by her own suit to the white haired boy, and soon Lincoln's world became nothing more than a bright light and a loud ringing, before the whiteness became black, the ringing subsided to nothing, and the assault to the senses became too much, unconsciousness overtaking him.

* * *

 **Chapter 1 of my first Loud House fanfic, Tactile. Hope you enjoyed it, remember to stay tuned for more to come, and don't forget to leave a review! Comments and Critique welcome! Until next time! - 3from2k**


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: I Own Nothing. The Loud House in its entirety belongs to Nickelodeon.**

* * *

 _'Perhaps I should have let Lucy read my fortune after all...'_

As the thought passed through his head, Lincoln became aware of an extremely sharp pain in his ears, as if he found himself on the wrong side of Luna's speakers during one of her guitar shredding moods. He put his hands over his ears, pressing down on them in a vain attempt to subdue the pain, as he clenched his eyes shut and curled up on his side. He was vaguely aware of something moving beside him in what seemed to be very frantic motions, yet he was unable to hear them despite that. Concerned, the boy opened his eyes to see what it was that seemed to be panicking beside him.

 _'Must be because my ears are covered,'_ he reasoned with himself.

Darkness. Nothing but absolute darkness greeted him. He moved his eyes, and saw nothing, turned his head, still nothing, he even struggled to sit upright and swivel his upper body around from side to side, but still, darkness filled his vision. Growing worried, he removed his hands from his ears and felt his face to make sure nothing was hindering his vision. By this point the erratic motions to his side seemed to come to a halt, almost unnoticed to him. Yet, as Lincoln put his hands flat to his face, feeling nothing but his eyelids under his palms, another realization struck the Loud child.

Silence. If there was ever one thing the Louds excelled at it was living up to their family name, but try as he might Lincoln couldn't hear a single peep from his family. Not the twins engulfed in one of their fights, Luan's laughter, Lynn causing a ruckus of some sort, or even Luna's amplifiers, which he swore were going full strength mere moments ago.

That cold, seeping feeling that can't be mistaken for anything but dread started to creep up Lincoln's spine. In a large family like his, silence was never a good thing, and usually signaled that chaos was about to erupt any second. The white haired boy stilled as he anticipated the storm that was sure to crop up, his blindness forgotten for the moment as he focused his hearing as much as he could. Thankfully the pain in his ears had started to subside.

However, any relief that he might have had faded as a new fact became apparent. It wasn't just his sisters he couldn't hear, but even the outside world seemed be silent as well. No cars going down the street, no lawnmowers from neighbors cutting the grass, not even the faint sounds of the few wind chimes they had hanging in the back garden could be heard through the thin walls of the house. Slowly, Lincoln held his hand up in the air before him, still unable to see it, and snapped his fingers.

It seemed as if his heart had just dropped through his chest, through what he assumed to be Lisa's floor, all the way to the basement. His hand started to shake, followed by the rest of his arm. He lifted his other arm and slammed it onto the floor beside him. He waved his hand in front of his eyes, close enough to feel the air moving across his face. He clapped his hands together. He forcefully blinked his eyes repeatedly.

Darkness and silence were still the only things to greet his two senses. Lincoln opened his mouth to scream, be it for help, in frustration, or out of fear, yet while he could feel the air leaving his mouth, no vibrations could be felt. He grabbed his throat and tried again, but the vibrations one could always feel in their throat when they spoke were absent.

No sight reached his eyes, no sound reached his ears, and even something as simple as a cry for help was denied him.

Lincoln's breathing started to quicken, his heartbeat felt like it would tear him in two, and his mind was starting to shut down as the preteen boy did the only thing that there was left to do in this situation.

Panic.

* * *

All while this was happening, Lisa had knelt beside her dear brother in the dark, completely uncaring that her experiment had appeared to knock out the power, with her helmet under her arm and unsure of what was transpiring before her. She read everything available that the creator of the device had given her, knew all that could go wrong, and took all the proper precautions, or so she assumed. Her chest was tight from fear over what she was witnessing, and as Lincoln started to shake and grow increasingly more erratic in his movements, the last vestiges of a hope that he might have been spared at least one side effect faded away.

Just as suddenly as she had acted out in emotion, Lisa's rational, logical mind came back to her when the weight of the situation became apparent.

 _'Okay Lisa, get a hold of yourself. Worried as you are, you won't be able to rectify the situation by hovering over your now incapacitated elder sibling. Start by reviewing the notes to formulate a solution.'_

With those thoughts firmly in place, the young genius had just stood up to retrieve the paperwork when, in Lincoln's fumbling around, desperate to find something, anything familiar, had grabbed hold of the edge of a table. However, as he attempted to pull himself to his feet, the table tipped over under his weight, sending Lincoln face first into the carpet as Lisa ducked under the numerous empty beakers and flasks that sailed over her head and landed across the room with an unceremonious crash.

Immediately Lisa ran to her closet, retrieved a high-powered vacuum meant to clean her chemical spills with, and rushed to remove the pile of broken glass before her brother could head this way. The last thing he needed in his current condition was a few dozen pieces of glass embedded in his hands. Due to the vacuum, however, she failed to hear the footsteps approaching her room.

The door, which had since unsealed and unlocked itself from the testing having ended and lack of power, swung open, revealing the cautious but concerned form of Luna, the wariness of entering her younger sister's testing grounds evident in her slow footsteps. Following behind her was Luan, who shared her roommate's apprehension. The footsteps of the rest of their sisters could be hear throughout the house, most likely also on their way to Lisa's room.

"Hey Lis, everything okay?" Luna asked. "The power cut out for a sec', heard some weird sounds down the hall and some glass breaking instead of the normal explosions."

"I told her that you were simply _breaking_ ground on something and choose to leave us in the _dark_! Ha ha ha! Get it?" Luan punned.

Lisa pinched the bridge of her nose and let out a groan as Luna gave her sister an elbow to the stomach with a roll of her eyes. However, before the comedian could let out a comeback pun, the two elder Loud girls had their attention grabbed by a thumping sound on the ground behind them. Turning around, somehow they had walked right past Lincoln, who was currently on his knees, one hand swinging wildly in front of him as he awkwardly and slowly crawled on the ground.

"Uh, Lisa, what's up with Linc?" Luan asked as Luna leaned over her brother, a mixture of worry and slight amusement on her face at the sight.

The second youngest Loud heaved a heavy sigh. Normally she would try to hide what mistakes she caused, redirect her siblings' attention elsewhere, but this was different, a serious matter that their parent's will also need explained to them. But before she could utter a single word, more figures appeared at the door and cut her off.

"Alright, someone better explain to me right now why the power cut out while I was showering, and it literally better be a darn good reason," Lori declared, a blue bathrobe in place of her normal attire and hair dripping wet.

"Yeah, I just managed to get the remote away from Lana when everything turned off!" added Lola.

"Better than whatever you would have turned on," came Lana's retort, earning her a glare from her twin which she returned right back.

"Well I can't even get something to eat because Mom won't let me open the fridge," Lynn complained, her arms crossed across her chest.

"I don't understand what you're all complaining about. I don't find anything wrong with the darkness," muttered Lucy, which went ignored by most of her siblings.

"But darkness is scary, it's like, the complete opposite of daytime," Leni said in reply to Lucy, making the little goth do a face palm at the blond's simple-mindedness.

"Poo!" Lily babbled from Leni's arms, arms crossed as if imitating Lynn and seemingly upset with the power outage as much as her sisters.

Lisa waited impatiently for the many voices to quite down before she mentally braced herself for what she was about to tell them.

 _'Oh how I do wish I had more time to prepare for this...'_

"If I could redirect your attention to a more vital subject, however difficult that may be, there is a much more serious problem in out midst than a mere lack in electricity," she began, before gesturing to Lincoln, who had stopped crawling around after feeling what must have felt like a small stampede approach the bedroom.

She hurriedly continued with her announcement before the figurative flood of comments, questions, and teasing could ensue.

"My studies into testing an experimental new sensor utilizing extreme yet brief exposure to high yield photon and decibel levels has caused our sole male sibling, who somehow managed to bypass all prepared security measures, to suffer from a total loss of visual and auditory processing capabilities as well as a near total loss of all vocalization capabilities, for an indeterminate, but most assuredly temporally, duration."

At the nine blank gazes she received, the genius sighed once more.

"Because of the device, Lincoln is blind, deaf, and almost completely mute for an unknown amount of time."

The reaction was near instantaneous. Their faces held looks of horror, disbelief, and most of all sorrow at what they were just told. All of the girls looked upon their brother, curled up with his knees to his chest, his eyes fixated on the floor in front of him, now knowing that he wasn't actually seeing it, and hadn't heard their conversation either.

Luna, any hints of former amusement gone completely, was the first of them to move. The rocker knelt down next to her brother, and slowly, apprehensive of what would happen, reached out a hand towards her brother.

"Lincoln..." she said softly, even if he couldn't hear her.

Her hand landed on Lincoln's shoulder, and the white haired Loud jumped in surprise so badly, worse than anything Lucy had ever pulled off, that he nearly fell over on his side, one hand supporting his weight. The girls flinched at the sight, and Luna pulled her hand back in dismay. Unable to see or hear, it hadn't occurred to anyone that he wouldn't even be able to know if someone was trying to comfort him or not.

After the shock had passed, though, ever so slowly Lincoln raised his free hand and held it in Luna's direction, slowly waving it around. Seeing this, Luna reached out her hand again, but instead of reaching for her brother, merely held her arm in the air so that Lincoln's own arm bumped into it on his own. Sure enough, just that happened, and when Lincoln felt the warm on his skin he pulled his arm back, maintained contact with the warmth, until his hand had reached it, and he laid his fingers upon it.

With bated breath, every Loud sister in the room watched as Lincoln slowly traced his fingers up along the length of Luna's arm, until the top of his hand touched her open palm. Luna softly brushed her fingers along the back of his hand as she slowly closed her hand around Lincoln's. There was a pause as Lincoln froze while Luna was moving her hand, and once she stopped, he wrapped his fingers around hers, latching desperately onto the only other presence he could find.

For a moment, nobody moved, waiting to see how this was going to pan out.

"Luna," Lisa spoke up, breaking the silence. "He doesn't know it's you. Try and give him a way to know who you are."

It was true. In the blank void Lincoln's mind currently resided in, he knew that he was holding someone's hand, but he had no idea who's it was. With all that had happened, he was too confused as to try and find a way to tell who the hand belonged to. As it was, he simply felt a massive wave of relief flow through him in knowing he wasn't lost and alone. However, that only did so much to help, as was evident by the death grip that he was exerting onto the hand in question.

"How do I do that," Luna asked with a slight wince from her brother's surprisingly strong grip.

"Oh, oh, I know!" Leni announced while hopping up and down like an excited child, much to Lily's amusement as she bounced along too. "Your hair! You're the only one with short hair, so, like, he'll know for sure it's you."

"That, my second eldest sister, is, well, actually it's a rather clever idea," Lisa praised in disbelief.

Leni grew a large smile at the comment, even as all her sisters stared at her in shock. Even Luna was dumbfounded for a moment at her older sister's rare moment of brilliance, before she took the advice and returned to the task before her.

Luna brought her free hand up to join her other, holding Lincoln's hand in both of her own, only getting a little jump of surprise from him this time. She pulled a little on his arm, nudging him towards her. Lincoln cautiously pushed off the ground with his other hand, getting himself upright once more, and let his arm reach towards where it was being pulled. Luna bent her head down a little as she unclasped one hand from her brother's and set his hand in her hair, right above her ear, holding it in place with her remaining hand.

Lincoln focused on what he was feeling, exploring with one hand what this new surface was. Short, soft, in fact, bringing his other hand to the side of his head, he noticed that it actually felt like his own hair. He moved his hand up, the stranger's hand still atop his own, and felt more hair on top of their head, before moving it back to where it was before. Himself aside, there was only one other person in the Loud family with a full head of short hair. He knew he probably couldn't speak, yet Lincoln still moved his lips to form the name on his mind.

'Luna?'

Luna nodded her head under his hand, a small smile of relief tugging at the corners of her mouth.

Without even thinking, Lincoln launched himself in a rather clumsy manner towards his sister, almost ramming his shoulder into her jaw. Luna was a little caught off guard by his abrupt movement, but as he threw his arms around her in an embrace she was quick to do the same. He buried his head in her shoulder and felt warmth wrap around him as his sister held him tight. Everyone in the room smiled a little as the tension faded, but it was a short lived relief before they remembered the entire situation, and a somber mood filled the air once more.

In Luna's arms, slowly but surely, Lincoln broke down, a few tears slipping through at first, but soon enough he was full on crying, sobbing his eyes out in silence except for the occasional sniffle. He was scared, confused, and trapped in a dark, silent world. But, at least now, feeling his sister rub his back in soothing motions, he knew he wasn't alone.

* * *

 **Chapter 2, without further ado. I noticed some grammar mistakes in the previous chapter, so I went through this with a fine-toothed comb removing any errors I could find. Hope you enjoyed seeing the initial reaction from Linc's sisters, I was planning to combine this with the next chapter, but I decided to separate them so I could update sooner rather than later. Like I said before, Reviews, Comments, and Critiques welcome! Until next time! - 3from2k**


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: I Own Nothing. The Loud House in its entirety belongs to Nickelodeon.**

* * *

Everyone had gone downstairs after Luna had managed to calm Lincoln down. It was slow going, Luna staying on one side, holding her brother's arm, with Leni on the other doing the same, slowly helping Lincoln navigate his way down the stairs and into the living room. Eventually they managed to get him to where he was currently sitting on the couch still between Luna and Leni, both sisters staying close to keep him calm. Using the same method as Luna, it didn't take more than a moment before Lincoln knew it was Leni beside him after feeling the iconic sunglasses that rested atop her platinum blond hair.

It was decided that a family meeting was in order, so the remaining sisters split up to get ready for the storm their parent's would surely let loose, sans Lily who remained in Leni's lap on the couch. Lisa was upstairs gathering up notes and moving any and all files that could be of use onto her tablet to take downstairs and work on a solution to put everyone at ease. Lori went to quickly get dried off and dressed, Lynn, at Lisa's request, went to retrieve her first aid kit she kept in her room in case of sporting injuries, Luan and Lucy went to keep their mom occupied while Lana and Lola kept watch for their dad, who was going to be home early from work.

Luna and Leni looked towards the stairs as Lisa came down, arms full of notepads with a tablet in hand, and Lynn followed closely behind with a box of medical supplies.

"Remind me again why you had me get the first aid kit?" Lynn questioned after setting the box on the table.

"Because my athletically inclined elder sibling, these will aid Lincoln in recovery. To withhold from repetition I shall reframe from explaining until the entire household is present. For now, if you would be so kind as to assist me in tending to our brother it would be most appreciated," Lisa said in reply.

"Sure thing, but one question. How is he supposed to know it's me? It's not like I have any unique hairstyle or something."

"Yes, that is a matter that needs addressing," Lisa said while adjusting her glasses. "While it proved effective in the short term, it would be entirely inefficient to rely solely on vague gestures throughout this ordeal. Hence forth, I have surmised that the simple Print on Palm technique will suffice."

"Print on Palm? You mean spelling the words on his hand?"

"Precisely."

Lynn furrowed her brows for a second before shrugging her shoulders and turning towards the couch. Stepping forward, Lynn looked her brother over with a frown. Lincoln was wedged between their two older siblings nice and securely and was tightly holding onto the arms of them both. For what must have been the dozenth time in less than an hour she, like all the girls, found herself wondering what it must be like for him, unable to fathom the loss of the two senses most people take for granted and the depth of what it must be like to experience.

Slowly Lynn reached out and grabbed Lincoln's left hand, which was gripping Leni's upper arm. He startled from the contact for a moment before feeling the tug on his hand and loosening his hold, letting his arm be removed from his sister and held before him, palm up. Lynn flattened out his hand and set the tip of her index finger on one side.

"Spell with capital letters," Lisa quickly interjected.

A quick nod was given in response before the athletic girl spelt four letters, one at a time, all in capital letters as instructed, on her brother's open palm.

'LYNN'

Lincoln's unseeing eyes widened and reflexively swiveled back and forth looking for her once Lynn removed her finger. However, he was still unsure of himself that he understood right and it was indeed his immediate older sister. He made a confused face as he moved his lips into the name he was calling into question.

'Lynn?'

A second later the response was written back.

'YES'

A smile replaced the frown on Lincoln's face, both at knowing it was Lynn and that there was still some way of communicating with his family. Around him the five sisters smiled as well at the development. Even if she didn't know what was truly going on, Lily gave a happy coo at feeling the spirits of her siblings rise, if only a little bit, and clapped her hands.

"Okay Lis, now what," Lynn asked whilst still holding her bother's hand, pointer finger at the ready.

"Get him to kneel on the floor. He doesn't have to go far, right where you stand will suffice. Just remember to use short words for simplicity's sake," the four year old explained.

"Got it."

Lynn wrote on his hand again.

'UP'

After it registered in his head, Lincoln hesitated for a moment at the prospect of letting go of Luna's arm. It wasn't that he didn't trust Lynn, even with as brash and reckless as she could be, this was still the same girl who was just as capable of taking care of Lily as their older siblings, after all. Not to mention that she knows from first hand experience that caution must be taken when one's been injured. No, trust wasn't the issue.

For Lincoln the problem was that Luna had been at his side this whole time, and she provided the small measure of comfort and familiarity that he needed right now. There was being pulled outside your comfort zone, and then there was this, where any peace you might have known is gone and suddenly everything is unfamiliar and something to be wary about. So yes, hesitation would be the expected response in the current situation.

For her part, Luna seemed to pick up on his inner turmoil and brought her hand around and laid it upon his own, which was still gripping her arm. She gave it a soft pat and smile softly as Lincoln turned his head towards her, loosening his grip slightly. Luna removed his hand from her arm and held it out, where Lynn took hold with her free hand before giving his arms a gentle tug forward.

With shaking legs Lincoln slowly got up from the couch, wavering a little in place and making Luna put her hands up just in cause he fell back. Once he had found his feet, Lynn released his right hand to write on his still open left palm.

'KNEEL'

A confused look crossed his face, but none the less started to get down one knee as Lynn grabbed his other hand once more. Lynn mirrored her brother's movements until they were both kneeling on the ground, sitting back on their heels.

"Excellent, now we may begin attending to him," Lisa spoke up. "Luna, if you would be so kind, I need you to insert these in Lincoln's ear canals."

Lisa held out her hand, holding two small devices that looked very much like the noise cancelling ear buds Lincoln once bought. After the whole fiasco that caused, Luan asked to have them for whenever Luna feels like shredding a guitar while she's working on new routines, and currently has them inside her nightstand upstairs.

"Sure thing dude, but what good will ear buds do for bro when he can't hear in the first place?" Luna asked.

"Well, you see, these ear buds aren't just for the projection or elimination of various voices and background noises. These are a far superior creation of my own design. I have designed them to aid in the recovery of those who have lost their hearing capacities after having been exposed to extreme stress induced by copious amounts of higher decibel levels than what is recommended, such as jackhammers, ambulance sirens, or, say, rock music."

Lisa ended her explanation with a completely straight faced stare into Luna's eyes. Luna was about to note how that seemed a little too convenient, but the way the child genius finished her statement gave her the answer. The rocker just returned an equally deadpan stare to her sister. Lynn also picked up on the subtle insult and tried to hold back the snicker that was building up in her throat.

"Wow! That is like, such an amazing stroke of luck that you already made just what we needed," Leni exclaimed.

The sound of three hands slapping on foreheads rang through the room, unnoticed by the oblivious blond. Lily cocked her head to the side quizzically at the red spots her sisters on wore on their faces.

"Yes, my scatter brained sibling, how lucky indeed," Lisa said in exasperation.

Luna shook her head a little and moved to put the buds in Lincoln's ear. However, the moment they touched the inside of his ears, Lincoln flinched wildly at the invasive feeling it sent through him and ducked forward, nearly causing Luna to drop the buds on the ground.

"Sorry bro!" Luna said, to distracted to remember to warm her brother.

"Calm down Linc!" Lynn said aloud while grabbing one of his shoulders and righting him back up. Thinking fast she quickly unfurled his hand and wrote on his palm.

'SORRY'

A pause.

'EAR BUDS'

Lincoln's eyebrows furrowed and, much like Lily just did, tilted his head to the side in question. Lynn knew immediately what he was asking.

'THEY WILL HELP'

It took him just a second longer to process the writing, but he quickly put it together and nodded his head in understanding. Luna reached forward once more and carefully put the two devices in her brother's ears. Lincoln reached up with the hand not currently serving as a notepad and adjusted each of the earbuds until they were in a more comfortable position.

Once he was done, Lisa produced a solid black headband.

"Now put this over his ears and eyes."

Luna took the headband and stretched it open, setting it first around the top of Lincoln's head before moving it down. It didn't take the white haired Loud long to realize that this must have also been intended to aid him. As the band flattened his ears, holding the ear buds securely in place, Lincoln closed his eyelids before Luna lowered it into position. Now it looked as if he had be blindfolded, as redundant as it would have been at the moment.

"Onto the final task. Lynn, you have the most experience with receiving and treating physical injuries, so therefor I nominate you for this procedure. Take these medicinal bandages and wrap them around the headband so as to prevent it from changing it's position."

Lisa held out the tan cloth-like bandages in question, which Lynn took without question.

"Whatever you say doc," she replied back.

"While I do happen to possess multiple degrees, none of them are related to any medicinal practices to which I assume you are referring to by calling me a doctor," Lisa stated.

"Whatever," Lynn mumbled.

The sports prodigy released her brother's hand to unwrap the bandages before winding a loop around his head. Lincoln was confused for sure, but trusted his sister's enough to remain still. Lynn grabbed his hand and lifted it to rest against the start of the wrappings, holding them in place as she made more loops, slowly but surely covering the black material until none of it showed.

"There! Good as new," Lynn announced as she cut the bandages and flatted the now loose end down.

Lincoln lowered his hand and she stared to frown again while looking at her handiwork.

"Except, you're not," she said in a more somber tone.

Lynn tugged her brother's arms in an upwards motion, coxing him into standing up without needing to spell any words out. With Luna's help she eased Lincoln back into his spot on the couch, only this time he didn't latch onto either of his teenage sisters. Instead he was distracted by his wrappings, trying to adjust them to get them into a more comfortable position until Luna saw him plucking at them and lightly swatted his hand away before taking it and tucking it under her arm herself.

Thankfully the movement of the couch was noticed by Lincoln enough so that he wasn't badly startled at the sudden motion.

Suddenly, the twins ran into the room.

"Dad's home!" They shouted in unison.

It didn't take Luna more than a second to take charge.

"Lana, you go get Lori from upstairs. Tell her that the makeup can wait if you have to. Lola, go and warn Luan and Lucy in the kitchen, but try not to make Mom suspicious. This is gonna be bad either way, so let's try and hold it off of now."

The twin nodded once before splitting up, the tomboy racing up the stair on all fours and the princess darting around the corner in a flash. It was quiet in the room for a moment before Leni spoke up in a subdued voice.

"I'm nervous," she said to no one in particular.

Luna and Lynn looked between each other, both sharing their elder sister's thoughts even if they didn't say it aloud. However, Lisa was the one to actually respond to Leni's statement.

"Worry not, my elder sibling, there's nothing you have to fear. Out of all of us, I'm the one who is most likely to receive reprimands and punishment for these events. After all, it's my fault that out dear brother is like this in the first place."

Although it was brief, the young scientist cast her gaze downward, away from her research materials and towards the floor upon finishing speaking. An action that didn't go unnoticed by her sisters.

"You shouldn't talk like that, Lisa." Leni told her, shocking everyone. "Ever since you stopped using us for your weird scienece-y projects you've, like, tried to keep us safe from what could go wrong."

The platinum blond looked at Lincoln and pulled him a little closer to her side before continuing.

"It wasn't your fault that Linky got caught in your experiment, so you shouldn't feel bad about it."

Aside from the occasional babble from Lily, the room was stunned into silence by Leni's brief yet seemingly insightful declaration, Lisa most of all. While she could respond by picking the comforting words apart in her classic analytical nature, she decided against it.

"Thank you, Leni. You truly do posses a heart of gold, metaphorically speaking, of course."

She gave Leni a small smile, receiving a warm one in return.

Luna and Lynn shared another glace, knowing that as heartfelt as that may have been, Lisa still had her own inner turmoil, just like Lincoln surely did. They both turned to their younger sibling, prepared to reassure her and help alleviate her troubled thoughts, but their efforts were cut short by the sound of Lana and Lori racing down the stairs.

"Lana, I told you I would be down in a minute! You didn't need to steal my mascara to make me move faster!"

"We don't have a minute! And who are you trying to impress with this crud anyway? We all know what your morning face looks like."

"That's literally not the point!"

Lori made a grab for the makeup, only for Lana to drop on all fours and dive under the table.

"Not until you sit down," she said.

"Ugh, fine!"

Lori, with mascara covering only one of her eyes, sat down beside Leni at the end of the couch, arms crossed and glaring at the tomboy hiding under the table.

"Happy now?"

"Yep. Here you go," Lana said while tossing the small object into the air.

Lori barely caught the object in time before turning to Leni.

"Leni, help me out with makeup, will you. I'll hold Lily."

"Of course!"

Lori set her baby sister on her lap and handed her mascara to Leni as Lana crawled out from under the table. Not a moment later, however, another commotion entered the room from the direction of the kitchen.

"...and that's why I really think that you should go outside and tell Daddy about all the new jokes and poems they came up with today!"

Lola came around the corner pulling Rita by the hand as fast as she could towards the door. The girls in the living room froze in fear before Lynn jumped up and grabbed Lana, setting the short blond on her shoulders and standing between Lincoln and their mom, just in case. Luan and Lucy quickly appear from the next room in Lola's wake.

"Oh! Oh! Don't forget the tell dad the one about the frog and rabbit who got in a fight!"

"And remember to tell him my poem of how canned food's are a plague upon his job, and his livelihood. I know he'll understand."

"Girls, settle down! I'll go tell him, don't worry! I just don't see why this couldn't wait for him to come inside."

Rita glanced over her shoulder at the comedian and poet behind her with a quizzical look before turning and heading out the door. If she noticed anything suspicious about the rest of her kids sitting on and around the couch, she didn't give any indication of it whatsoever. Once the door shut behind her, all the Loud sisters breathed sigh of relief.

The three by the door rejoined the others, Lola moving over towards the couch, Lana climbing off of Lynn and standing by her twin's side. They looked at Lincoln, then at each other, before it seemed like a switch was flipped and they both lept at their brother, wrapping their arms around him and tears beginning to leak from their eyes and onto his shirt.

Lincoln was understandably startled by suddenly feeling two large masses tackling him into the back of the couch. He felt himself being squeezed around his torso, and a moment later wetness started to coat his shirt as the objects he came to recognize as people started to shake. He felt around with his hands, pawing around the two until he reached their heads, feeling a tiara on his left and a hat on his right.

'It's the twins,' he thought. "And they're crying,'

Lincoln wrapped his arms around the six year olds, holding them close. He leaned his head down, his cheeks brushing the tops of their own heads as they wept into his shoulders. Despite his current state Lincoln was determined to try and provide comfort for the twins to the best that he was able, his protective instincts as their big brother resonating within him.

The other's simply watched the scene unfold with sad smiles just as they had with him and Luna earlier. It didn't take Lola and Lana long to settle down thankfully, and they each curled into Lincoln's sides with an arm around each of them. Luan moved around the table and sat next to Lynn at Luna's feet while Lucy approached her brother like the twins just did. However, instead of breaking into tears, the young goth just quietly sat on the ground between Lincoln's feet and leaned back into the couch, her brother's knees on either side of her head.

Lincoln felt someone sitting before in on the floor and lifted his arms off Lana and Lola, leaning forward while reaching out with his left hand. He felt a head of hair, no surprise there, and his hand was quickly grabbed by a colder, slightly smaller one, and pulled forward. Lincoln felt hair going over their forehead, past their eyes, and rest at where it ended at their nose.

'Lucy,' he realized.

The white haired boy smiled at the subtle display of emotion from his immediate younger sister, leaning back and putting his arms back around the twins again. The other's were also a little surprised. While it may just seem like Lucy choose to sit up against their brother, they all knew that such a simple act spoke volumes at how much the most unemotive of them all was worried for Lincoln.

With everyone assembled they all settled in, the girls waiting anxiously for their parent's to come back inside. Without any more distractions Leni swiftly finished up Lori's mascara, the eldest sibling setting the makeup on the table and moving onto the floor from the cramped couch, settling next to Lucy with Lily still him her arms. She held the infant tightly, the only indication of the stress she was feeling along side everyone else.

The only sound to be heard was the ticking of the clock and occasional noise from Lily, and to all the sisters it seemed to drag on for hours. The reality of it was that only a few minutes had passed before the front door opened and in walked their parents, caught up in conversation. However, it didn't take Rita and Lynn Sr. long to noticed that something was off in their house. Halting their conversation the two adults looked over to the couch, only to find all their kids, unmoving, staring silently at them like deer in the headlights.

Lynn Sr. was the first to speak up.

"Um, hey kids, what's going one? You look like you're expecting to be scolded for something. And why does Lincoln have bandages wrapped around his head?"

The girls shifted around uncomfortably, looking away from their parents. Rita crossed her arms and sent a stern look in their direction.

"All right, something's up. Who want's to be the one to explain?"

The kids looked between each other for a moment before Lisa stood up at the end of the coffee table, not that it did much to raise her height in the first place. She shifted some of her notes for a second before folding her hands behind her back and looking towards her mom and dad.

"Parental units, it would be advisable for you to take a seat. The news we have to share with you is of a most distressing nature."

Rita raised an eyebrow at her second youngest daughter before looking to her husband, who merely shrugged his shoulders in response. The two moved to the arm chair at the opposite end of the table from Lisa, Rita sitting down in it while Lynn Sr. sat upon the arm.

"Okay, so what happened this time?" Rita asked.

Lisa took a deep breath and started to look through her papers on the table as she delved into her explanation.

"As you may or may not be aware of, I have recently acquired an experimental device from a colleague of mine in order to run tests on it's performance and viability as a more widespread research tool. It utilizes a combination of high-yield photon and audio discharges and required complete lock down of the testing facility in order to ensure the safety of the rest of the household. I was just beginning to run the proper testing procedures earlier when, well, the unthinkable occurred."

She took another, shuddering breath before dropping the bomb on them. She purposefully kept her speech simple for this moment.

"Lincoln slipped through my security measures, and was caught in the midst of the initial test unprotected. Now he's temporarily blind, deaf, and nearly completely mute."

Lisa hated having to repeat that dreadful statement, it wasn't any easier than telling her sisters. The girls themselves hated hearing the announcement again as well. The twins curled into Lincoln's sides again, Lucy seemed to curl in on herself with her arms wrapped around her knees, and all the older girls looked towards their brother sadly. Lily quieted down as the gloom set in again.

The parents, however, were horrified. Rita brought her hands up to her mouth in shock, tears brimming at her eyes, while Lynn Sr. put his hand on his wife's shoulder, both for her comfort and to keep himself from falling over, suddenly feeling dizzy. They both looked towards their baby boy, head wrapped in bandages, shielding his eyes from sight, and had to fight back the urge to run to him in tears. Lynn Sr was the first of them to look back towards Lisa, still feeling faint but eyes demanding an explanation.

The young scientist fumbled for her tablet on the table, nearly dropping it onto the floor due to her sweaty grip. She hastily flicked through her tabs to find the best way to explain everything to her family.

"From the brief time I've had to look over the security footage, and so far I've been able to draw a conclusion as to what must have transpired. You see, while I was switching between camera feeds and inputting note on the proceedings, there is a small gap, only a few seconds at most, between the footage of my place of residence disengaging and the footage of the hallway coming on screen where no video is displayed. Therefor, I've deduced that Lincoln must have entered the testing area immediately after the camera within had shut down and the had the door closed behind him before the outer camera could start transmitting its feed."

Lisa's hands started to tremble as she reviewed the footage from moments before it all went down hill, struggling to continue with her speech.

"Additionally, due to the factor of myself being sealed with a suit designed to cancel out all sound from the device, I was unable to hear anything he might have been saying until he alerted me to his presence via turning the lighting on and off repeatedly. And by that point, the device was mere moments from commencing with the experiment from a preset countdown. There was nothing that could have been done to save him."

Lisa set her tablet down on her pile of notes, head hung low, both to avoid seeing the look in her family's eye and to hide the few tears that had built up behind her thick glasses. Silence had filled the room at the revelation, not a single Loud daring to speak. Not one of them could believe it, Lincoln bypassing Lisa's security measures, on _accident_ of all things? Impossible. Yet here they were, all 12 of them sitting in the living room in stunned silence, with Lincoln wearing medical bandages around his head, not making a single sound.

Rita was the first to speak, her voice merely a whisper, but sorrow, fear, and even anger all very present.

"How long?"

It didn't take a child prodigy with multiple doctorates to know what she was referring to, yet all the same nervousness caused Lisa to hesitate with an answer. She grabbed one of her notepads and started to flip through it, struggle to find the right page.

"I, um, you see, from the numbers I've been able to run, due to the intensity of the discharges, Lincoln's distance from the experiment, myself being an obstruction between him and the device, numerous other factors, and notes from the device's creator, Lincoln should be healed of these conditions in a week, possibly a day or two sooner. The recovery ear buds and bandanna we equipped him with should aid in speeding up his recovery."

At last Lisa looked up from her notepad, mustering up the courage to look her parent in the eyes. Rita, eyes slightly red from tears, looked crossed with her second youngest more than anything, while Lynn Sr. was finally recovering from his dizzy spell.

"You...You said her was mute, mostly, right? How did light and sound do that," the father of the family asked.

Lisa replaced her notepad with a stack of papers and shifted though them.

"Based off my research and the notes of my colleague, the vibration frequency caused by the audio discharge must have caused some minor disruption to his vocal cords. As it stands, as much as I hate to use this term, Lincoln got extremely lucky with only needing to wait a week, when a month long wait was a more probable outcome."

"Lucky!?"

Everyone in the room was caught off guard by Rita's sudden exclamation, anger born from worry etched across her face. It would seem that Lisa's attempt to lift everyone's spirits ever so slightly didn't go over very well.

"Lisa, we talked about this! We agreed to let you conduct your more dangerous experiments in exchange for you to stop experimenting on us, but with the promise that you would take the most extreme caution possible. You're telling me that somehow one of your siblings bypassed all the security measures you, the smartest child on the planet, made yourself, and you're saying that we're lucky!?"

All the girls were wincing as their mother ranted, sending sympathetic glances towards Lisa, head hung low again, as she took the full burden of the tirade.

"I'm sorry, mother," she said meekly, barely audible yet her loud and clear all the same.

Lynn Sr. set a hand on Rita's shoulder when she stopped, helping his wife settle down. Rita took a deep breath, letting the anger flow out as she exhaled, and spoke once more, no longer fuming, but a stern edge still in her voice.

"Lisa, I'm sorry for going off like that, but this breach in your security cannot stand. Before anything else, you are to go upstairs and redo all cameras, locks, barriers, and other security measures until there isn't even the slightest chance this could happen again, do you understand?"

Lisa nodded.

"And until your brother is healed you are forbidden from conducting any scientific experiments, studies, or hypotheses. Unless it pertains to Lincoln's condition and helping him recover quicker, I don't even want to catch you reading a science text book, understand?"

"Understood."

"Good, now go start fixing your security upstairs."

Without another word Lisa hastily gathered up her notes and tablet and rushed up the stairs, the odd paper flying out as she went. Again, the girls on the couch felt sympathy for their sister, and sat in tense silence as she was scolded. The five oldest girls all looked between each other, an unspoken agreement to go talk with Lisa made among them.

Rita leaned back into the chair, a wave of exhaustion going through her as her husband leaned over and put an arm around her. A look of sadness covered their faces again as they looked at their only son, surrounded by his sisters in a protective manner yet disconnected from all that just transpired all the same. Try as they might, neither of them could think of how this coming week might go.

For his part, Lincoln was confused and worried as to why his sisters all seemed to feel so tense.

* * *

 **Before I say anything else, I apologize deeply for the wait on this chapter. Loud House just kind of faded into the background for me, but I was never going to abandon this story. First rule of being an author (or my first rule, at least), "Never Abandon or Throw Away Your Works."**

 **And a big, big shout out to the one follower who messaged me Sunday asking if this fic was dead, it was just the kick in the behind I needed to get back in the Loud** **game. I won't name names since I don't know how they'd feel about that, but thank you again for the PM!**

 **Anyways, hope you enjoyed Chapter 3, I'm gonna try and aim for chapters roughly this size from here on out. I also went through and corrected a number of mistakes in the previous chapters, one in particular being changing the description of Lisa's device from "speaker system" to "microscope" in chapter one, which always bugged me. That aside,** **I'll get to work on the next chapter soon, and don't worry, I promise I won't make you all wait two months again :P** **Reviews, Comments, and Critiques welcome as always! Until next time! - 3from2k**


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